Month: September 2022

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Normandy Takes Flight

il-2-sturmovik-battle-of-normandySource: Blue’s News

IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Normandy is now available for Windows on Steam, offering the latest installment in this combat flight simulator from 1C Game Studios. Air combat is not the typical focus when recreating World War II’s pivotal invasion of Normandy, and the battle involved none of the game’s titular Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik aircraft, but the game is focused on realism nonetheless. This can be seen in the launch trailer and the description:

IL-2 Sturmovik: The Battle of Normandy contains eight famous aircraft you can take into virtual combat alone or with friends and comes with a map of the Normandy theater that includes a portion of southern England and northwest France. Taken from satellite data, the accurately reproduced topography reflects the battleground as it was in mid-1944 both pre and post invasion.

Complete with new mission types and airfield types – bringing the total amount to 100 airfields with historically accurate layouts. The Battle of Normandy offers franchise new ships, ground vehicles, buildings, coastal defenses, V-1 buzzbombs and their launch positions, plus dozens of new aircraft paint schemes, and much more.

Combat Flight Sim IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Normandy | Donster | |
Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations – 1944 Announced

panzer-corps-2-axis-operations-1944The seventh chapter of the Axis Operations series begins to loom

Matrix Games has announced Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations – 1944, the latest DLC for Panzer Corps 2. The Axis Operations – 1944 DLC Campaign is the first DLC that offers two entire campaigns that are completely separate and independent from one another.

In the historical campaign, prepare to face the brutal realities of the decline of the German Wehrmacht as it struggles to survive the Allied onslaught battering it from all directions.

In the ahistorical campaign, continue your success that has secured the Caucasus region for Germany as you defend your extensive conquests from familiar and totally new challenges.

To properly explore the historical battles and ahistorical events in the 1944 DLC, Axis Operations 1944 has grown to provide the largest amount of content a DLC has yet to have.

The vast 20 scenarios count offers the best glimpse at exploring the historical realities of devastating battles fought on the Eastern Front during 1944, especially during Operation Bagration.

The ahistorical campaign is a fully fleshed out and realized campaign with well-researched potential successes, and setbacks, the mighty German Wehrmacht may have faced even after it emerged as the victor from the Battle of Kursk.

New features:

  • Two playable campaigns
  • New 20 huge scenarios
  • A new set of objectives, classified as Elite Objective
  • Import your core forces completed the previous Axis Operations1943 East campaign
  • Field Marshal Erwin Rommel returns!

More information is available at the official Panzer Corps 2: Axis Operations – 1944 webpage.

Panzer Corps 2 Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | |
New Hearts of Iron IV Expansion Available Now

hearts-of-iron-iv-by-blood-aloneBy Blood Alone Add-On Includes Plane Designer and New Alternate Histories

Paradox Interactive’s best-selling grand strategy wargame Hearts of Iron IV gets even grander and more strategic today with the release of By Blood Alone, a new expansion pack that adds new ways to explore the limits of your military genius and long-term planning.

The centerpieces of By Blood Alone include the much requested aircraft designer, allowing you to build the fighters and bombers of your imagination, and three new national focus trees, carving out room for an even wider range of diverging alternate histories, whether you successfully repel European conquest as Ethiopia or foment a communist revolution in wartime Italy.

Features of Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone include:

  • New Italian Focus Tree: Alternate histories of Fascist Italy, including a socialist revolution.
  • New Ethiopian Focus Tree: Defy the odds to defeat the Italian invader or resist the conqueror from abroad using unique Government in Exile abilities.
  • New Swiss Focus Tree: Surrounded by France, Germany and Italy, the mountain nation of Switzerland finds strength in its neutrality, balancing competing factions and overtures from the great powers.
  • New Peace Conference Options: Demilitarize zones of the map or entire nations, bid on the capital ships of defeated powers, or claim control of enemy resources or factories as reparations.
  • Aircraft Designer: Design and build your own planes, from nimble interceptors that prioritize speed to durable bombers crafted to unload tons of destruction from high above.
  • Unit Medals: A log of each division’s accomplishments lets you track their performance, and even allow you to award medals to those that have performed well.
  • Embargo Interaction: Embargo your enemies with a new diplomatic interaction, preventing them from trading with you if they have generated enough world tension.
  • New Unit Models: More than 20 new pieces of unit art for Italian, Ethiopian and Swiss armies.
  • New Plane Models: 67 new plane models.
  • 12 New Music Tracks

As usual, the release of By Blood Alone will be accompanied by a major update to Hearts of Iron IV, available for free for everyone who owns the game.

Hearts of Iron IV: By Blood Alone is available now for a suggested retail price of $19.99/£15.49/€19.99.

For more game information please visit the official Hearts of Iron IV website.

Hearts of Iron IV Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | |
High Seas, Tactical Depth – Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter Launches into Early Access Today

destroyer-the-u-boat-hunterIn the highly realistic simulation you can now take up the fight with relentless enemy submarines and defend your vulnerable allied convoys on their way across the ocean

Today, publisher Daedalic Entertainment and developer Iron Wolf Studio announced that Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter is now available worldwide through Steam Early Access for PC. Whether you are a veteran sim expert or newcomer to the genre, the historically accurate WW2 simulation offers authentic and thrilling anti-submarine warfare during the infamous Battle of the Atlantic.

Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter is an innovative, cross-genre destroyer simulation which truthfully depicts the struggle of escort groups protecting allied convoys against German U-boats during the Battle of the Atlantic. Take full control of a Fletcher-class destroyer with all the crucial responsibilities of an anti-submarine destroyer attack team, using authentic instruments and attack procedures – or choose to automate certain tasks to focus more on the operational side of things. From identifying enemy vessels in the distance and plotting their projected inbound trajectories to positioning and commanding allied forces to intercept and attack enemy hostiles, players experience the full spectrum of anti-submarine warfare.

Check out the new gameplay tutorial video HERE.

Destroyer combines the thrill of commanding an anti-submarine warship with the tactical challenge of managing a whole escort group protecting convoys against relentless wolfpacks. The game goes to great lengths to appeal to fans of realism and immersion, at the same time offering a great experience for beginners in the genre as well. Whether a military sim veteran or a fledgling captain, immerse yourself in a cinematic naval warfare experience and feel the thrill of the hunt!

Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter is now available on Windows PC via Steam Early Access. For more information, please visit the official Steam game page.

Destroyer: The U-Boat Hunter Naval Combat | Donster | |
Command Modern Operations – Falklands Announced

command-modern-operations-falklandsFor the 40th anniversary of the Falklands War, Command Modern Operations is pleased to announce a new DLC that will bring you back to 1982. Command Falklands contains fifteen scenarios and two bonus missions that put you in charge of the most significant units during the war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands off the coast of South America.

Watch the Command Falklands announcement trailer HERE.

Take command of the Argentine forces or the British task force assembled in 48 hours to fight the Argentine invasion, manage units previously taken out of service in bonus scenarios such as the HMS Ark Royal, Buccaneer and Phantom Fighters long-range attack planes, and the aircraft carrier CVA-01.

Features:

  • 15 Scenarios plus 2 Bonus Scenarios including units not present or available during the war.
  • Scenarios designed by a retired Royal Navy officer and Falklands veteran, who served on HMS Plymouth
  • Management actual and previously taken out of service units
  • Air, surface and underwater combat
  • Guide your Forces to victory in a multi-sided campaign.

Are you ready to counter the invasion?

Find out more about Command: Modern Operations – Falklands at the games official webpage.

Command: Modern Operations Strategy and Wargaming | Donster | |
Just Announced Hardware for 27 September 2022

newhardware-iconCheck out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

Hardware | Donster | |
AMD Ryzen 7000-Series Reviews

amd-logoAMD is introducing their fastest Zen 4 processor for gamers. Today marks the end of the review embargo on the new 7000-series. The first official evaluations of the new Ryzen CPUs have arrived. Click on the links below for the latest on these new AMD processors.

Hardware Processors | Donster | |
NVIDIA GeForce 517.48 Game Ready Drivers Released

geforce-rtx-logoSource: TechPowerUp!

NVIDIA today released the latest version of GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 517.48 WHQL comes with optimization for Overwatch 2. It also offers optimization for Microsoft Flight Simulator with DLSS support. A number of bugs are addressed with this release. To begin with, display brightness settings not being applied correctly on certain kinds of Lenovo notebooks in dGPU mode, has been fixed. The “NVIDIA GPU only” toggle not persisting on reboots on certain notebooks, has been fixed. The “reduce noise” option with ray tracing in Adobe Illustrator appears pixellated, which has been fixed.

Random crashes in DirectML.dll with Adobe Photoshop have been fixed. Performance issues with VRR monitors in Fusion 360 has been fixed. Shadow flickering with “Jurassic World Evolution 2″ has been fixed. Some UWP apps in Windows 11 exhibit lag with G-SYNC, which has been fixed. Language bugs with NVIDIA Control Panel has been fixed. External displays connected via USB-C or Thunderbolt dongles in Razer notebooks not correctly being detected, have been fixed. MS Flight Simulator exhibiting texture corruption after extended gameplay, has been fixed.

You can download the GeForce 517.48 WHQL drivers via GeForce.com.

Hardware Video Cards | Donster | |
AMD Software Adrenalin 22.9.2 Released

amd-radeon-software-adrenalinSource: TechPowerUp!

AMD today released the Adrenalin 22.9.2 drivers. These drivers add support for the Radeon Graphics iGPU of the new Ryzen 7000 desktop processors that go on sale today. Game optimization is added for “Grounded.” A handful of issues have been identified with the release. Radeon Super Resolution failing to trigger after changing resolution in games such as Nioh 2, has been identified. Improper rendering of Oculus dashboard menus with RX 6000-series graphics cards has been identified. GPU utilization being stuck at 100% in Performance Metrics after closing games in some cards such as the RX 570, has been identified. Display briefly showing corruption when switching between video and games in some GPUs such as the RX 6700 XT, has been identified. Vertical Refresh Sync being set to “off” globally causing stuttering or driver timeouts, has been identified. Dropped frames in video playback have been identified.

The Radeon Software Adrenalin 22.9.2 drivers are available online at the AMD driver download page.

Hardware Video Cards | Donster | |
Just Announced Hardware for 22 September 2022

newhardware-iconCheck out these latest hardware announcements for today from around the web. Also included are some hardware news bits, and on some days, a few rumors tossed in for good measure. Click on the links below to read the official press release, visit the products web page, or to an independent news source.

Hardware | Donster | |